TAMPA, Fla. — Three volunteers from the Tampa and Orlando areas have deployed to Washington state to help people displaced by wildfires in the Spokane area, where more than 67,000 people were under evacuation orders and 700 buildings had been destroyed as of Monday.

The American Red Cross volunteers are working in shelters set up for people affected by the fires, according to Duhane Lindo, regional communications manager for the Red Cross’s North and Central Florida region.

“Making sure that folks are comfortable, they have a safe place to sleep, they have hot meals, water,” Lindo said.

Lindo said more than 200 Red Cross volunteers from around the country are in Spokane. Among them are Nancy Dile of Tampa and Dr. Sonia Bhatia from Orlando.

“We’ve seen some of the pictures out there, and it’s just a terrible scene where folks have had to just get up within an hour and evacuate their homes,” Lindo said.

The shelters are providing more than meals and a place to sleep. Lindo said people who have lost everything can also find emotional support, health services, and help to replace important items such as medications and glasses.

The Florida volunteers deployed over the past two days and are expected to remain in Washington for the next two weeks.

Lindo said Red Cross volunteers train for weeks to months before responding to disasters.

“They go out, leave their families within a 24-hour notice, leave their families from Florida, fly out 3,000 miles to Washington, just to make sure that their neighbors are taken care of,” Lindo said.

The Red Cross will help with damage assessment and recovery planning once it is safe to be on the ground.

“They want to make sure that people, their neighbors, are being helped as much as possible because they know how much trauma they have gone through within the past couple days,” Lindo said.

The Red Cross said the need for volunteers is constant.

More than a dozen volunteers from the North and Central Florida region are currently deployed to emergencies in Guam, Texas, and Wisconsin, and the local chapter is prepared to send more volunteers to Washington if requested. Anyone interested in volunteering can visit the organization’s website.